The present invention relates to a power converter and a method for operating a power converter.
The German patent application DE 10 2009 047 616 A1 discloses an inverter arrangement for operating an electric motor. The electric motor is controlled via a B6 bridge in this case.
Power converters are frequently utilized in electric drives. These power converters convert a DC voltage, for example from a battery, into an AC voltage which is suitable for controlling an electric machine. Such power converters generally include a half-bridge for each phase of the electric machine. In this case, such a half-bridge consists of two switch elements, preferably semiconductor switches, each of which is additionally provided with a freewheeling diode arranged in parallel thereto. Bipolar transistors having an insulated gate electrode (IGBT) are generally utilized as semiconductor switches for applications having high voltages which occur in electric and hybrid vehicles, for example. Such IGBTs can conduct a currently only in the forward conducting direction in this case.
Such IGBTs are generally triggered by so-called gate drivers and boosters. The energy required by these assemblies depends on the number of switching processes per unit of time in this case.
Therefore, there is a need for a power converter having a method for triggering a power converter which requires less power.